If someone would come and tell you: “I can’t fall in love. I’ve never fallen in love and I also think it is wrong, harmful, crazy and irrational to fall in love.” What would you tell?
Most people would say opt for one of the following answers:
Cool, that’s great, good for you, finally a sane person!
That’s pitiful, you miss something important!
Falling in love has a lot of parallels to real religious conviction: It’s irrational. It’s not supported by evidence, still can’t be argued away. It can be harmful for the person and also easily exploited and often it is not mutual. :)
No, it’s not a clarification, it’s just an extension.
You can ask the same questions about falling in love as about religious faith. Whether you come to similar or different conclusions, you learn something on the way.
That’s … not really accurate. With love, the question we in this community would ask is “would seeking to maintain or expand this relationship be a good idea?” With religion, it’s “does this being with whom a relationship is suggested actually exist?”
No, they don’t. They may say the words, “was the person I fell in love with ever real”, but their actual question is, “was I mistaken about the character of the human being I formed a relationship with”. Not the same question.
If someone would come and tell you: “I can’t fall in love. I’ve never fallen in love and I also think it is wrong, harmful, crazy and irrational to fall in love.” What would you tell?
Most people would say opt for one of the following answers:
Cool, that’s great, good for you, finally a sane person!
That’s pitiful, you miss something important!
Falling in love has a lot of parallels to real religious conviction: It’s irrational. It’s not supported by evidence, still can’t be argued away. It can be harmful for the person and also easily exploited and often it is not mutual. :)
As a clarification of the subjective nature of religious faith, this is most helpful … but it doesn’t really answer Wei_Dai’s question.
No, it’s not a clarification, it’s just an extension.
You can ask the same questions about falling in love as about religious faith. Whether you come to similar or different conclusions, you learn something on the way.
That’s … not really accurate. With love, the question we in this community would ask is “would seeking to maintain or expand this relationship be a good idea?” With religion, it’s “does this being with whom a relationship is suggested actually exist?”
In a lot of cases, one asks later whether the person one fell in love actually exists.
No, they don’t. They may say the words, “was the person I fell in love with ever real”, but their actual question is, “was I mistaken about the character of the human being I formed a relationship with”. Not the same question.